FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
Neville Callam
For Better Church Meetings Recently, I shared in a discussion with two incisive
thinkers on the subject of the place of parliamentary procedures in meetings of church organizations. This discussion was against the background of a statement outlining the rules that
should guide discussions at
meetings of a Christian World Communion. Some people agree to follow a standard book of
procedures that has been sanctioned by years of use in their cultural context. They believe such procedures contribute to the preservation of order in their church meetings. Yet, this solution is inadequate for a worldwide organization whose members utilize a plethora of traditional books defining parliamentary procedures developed in certain specific contexts. Hardly can one justifiably assert that the procedures enshrined in a text that is used in one area of a worldwide constituency should apply in discussions involving people who are accustomed to operate on the basis of significantly different guidelines officially sanctioned in their cultural context. There appears not to be any easy way of resolving the question of how to frame parliamentary procedures that are satisfactory to all discussants in an ecclesial gathering of people from diverse contexts. When the subject of parliamentary procedures is
under consideration, another issue arises. This concerns the appropriateness of using books of rules to regulate discussions in church settings if these books are not predicated on biblical or theological principles. The answer one supplies will have much to do with how one understands the nature and meaning of what we may identify simply as church meetings. Whatever else they are, church meetings are occasions
when followers of Christ gather with an intention to discern together what they consider to be the will of God
in relation to any matter that forms the subject of their deliberation. Churches and ecclesial organizations are not governed
by procedures adopted in the parliaments of this world. Their meetings are not carefully designed processes aimed at discovering what
the majority of those in
attendance believe the church should do. Church meetings are not opportunities for participants to use persuasion to influence the members assembled to adopt this or that position. Instead, meetings of ecclesial organizations are worship events in which participants both speak and listen to each other as they strive to discover together what the Lord may be leading them to do. When they hold decision meetings, Christians in a church family seek to discover together the road the Holy Spirit is leading them to take as they seek to be faithful in ministry. Understood in this perspective, when proposals are
presented at church meetings – and these proposals are sometimes called motions – no desire exists to deliberately mute the voice of any of those present, whether or not they appear to be in support of a particular motion. Participants are expected to share what they believe they are hearing from the Lord. They are to contribute to the deliberations what they are led to discern regarding the issues under consideration. And they are expected to be as eager to graciously voice their point of view as to listen carefully to the opinion of others. What should result from this process of praying,
listening and sharing is a consensus around which members are able to unite not because every single one of them agrees entirely with the decision proposed, but because they each find enough in the decision that they and their fellow followers of Christ can affirm together. Who doesn’t long for better church meetings?
4 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32